Red Investigating
by CrazilyRandom
Summary: Post Season 3 finale. The BAU is called in to find out if Red John's death was Jane defending himself-or avenging his wife and childs' deaths. Jisbon, with other umderlying couples.
1. Red Aftermath

**A/N: Ok, so, Strawberries and Cream was sooo intense, am I right? And, well…Wow! **

**I am putting my other fics on hold for this one, because I want to finish it quickly. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the shows. I don't own anything but my ideas!**

Lisbon leaned over her desk, studying the paperwork in front of her. The case had been very tiring, and everyone had suggested she go home, but she decided she needed time to think.

Suddenly, Grace popped her head into the office.

Without looking up, Lisbon commented, "I thought I told you to go home-"

"Boss." It wasn't the word, but the way she said it-her voice shaky and high-that caused Lisbon to look up. And she knew.

She knew right away what had happened.

She didn't really know _how _she knew.

However it was, she simply asked, her voice deceptively calm, "What's wrong?"

Grace took a deep breath and answered, "Red John's dead. Shot. Jane pulled the trigger."

She had known it was going to happen one day.

Jane had been crystal clear about that.

So she wasn't sure why she felt so shocked, so broken.

She had cared about him. More than she cared to admit, in fact. And she thought that he had cared about her.

But in that moment, all she could think was, _he cared about __**them. **__Never me. Just them._

"Boss, I-I'm so sorry…"

Lisbon shrugged. "It's-It's not your fault…"

"I know, but you lov-"

She paused. It was clear Lisbon didn't want to face this.

So, she was faced with a choice: She could leave, just walk away, and let her boss deal with this by herself-the professional thing to do-or, she could do exactly what her friend needed at the moment. It didn't take her long to decide.

So, for the second time in twenty-four hours, she walked over to her boss, and pulled her into a tight hug.

Lisbon wasn't a hugger.

Never had been.

Her dad would only hug her after he had beaten her or one of her brothers, when he was swearing up and down that this would be the last time, that he was going to get clean and sober, that he was going to get help.

She had practically raised three brothers, and none of them were huggers, except Jared, and him only when she had bailed him out of jail again.

Naturally, hugs had never really been something she liked.

But at that moment, it was exactly what she needed.

A few moments passed, and then she pulled away.

"Thank you."

Grace nodded sympathetically. "Um, they want you to come down to the station. They're hoping you can get him to talk. All he would give is his name, and the fact that the man he killed was Red John."

Lisbon closed her eyes for a moment. "Um, ok, um, you need to, you need to go home."

Grace shook her head. "Not a chance. I'm coming with you."

In spite of her hurt, Lisbon grinned. "Thanks."

Grace nodded.

In the car, Lisbon had about fifteen minutes to process. About half-way through the drive, another emotion hit her.

Anger.

How could her just throw it all away-their friendship, his job, his new _life-_for revenge?

She had finally gotten to the point where she trusted him.

She knew it was stupid, she knew it was dumb, she knew she was playing with fire, but she trusted him, and he had gone and betrayed that trust!

She gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.

Grace winced at the sight.

"Um, Boss…"

"What?" She snapped, then immediately felt terrible. Grace didn't have to ride with her, didn't have to practically hold her hand as she faced the hardest conversation she had ever had, and yet she was.

And Lisbon had snapped at her.

"Sorry…"

Grace nodded softly. "It's ok."

The rest of the ride was silent.

Lisbon walked into the station with Grace, suddenly slightly afraid.

Would he say he was in the right?

Would he roll his eyes, scolding her for trusting him?

Would he be heartbroken, wishing he could go back in time?

Scratch that-she was terrified.

One of the cops walked up to them and asked, "Can I help you ladies?"

Grace glanced at Lisbon, who seemed frozen in place. So, she spoke up, "I'm Agent Grace Van Pelt, and this is my boss-Agent Lisbon."  
>A knowing look crossed his face. "Right this way."<p>

He led them back to a cell, where a man they soon recognized as Patrick Jane sat on a bench.

"Lisbon." His voice echoed his demeanor- free, calm, and relaxed. "Grace."

Grace spoke tightly. "Hi, Jane."

Lisbon took a deep breath and asked the one question that, through all of her emotions, had plagued her- "Why?"

He smiled, and for the first time in a long time, there was no shadow, no extra darkness. "I had to."

Lisbon shook her head. "No. You didn't."

Grace studied him silently. His face was clear of darkness. He looked free. Then, something caught her eyes, something that made her heart skip a beat.

"Your ring is gone."

She hadn't meant to speak out loud, but when all eyes turned to her, she realized she had.

He nodded. "I don't have to wear it anymore."

Lisbon took back control of the conversation. "What happened, Jane?"

He shrugged. "I saw the person you called from Hightower's, I walked over, we talked, he had a gun, and I shot him."

Grace and Lisbon blinked in surprise. "He had a gun?"

Jane nodded. "Yeah."

His face grew serious. Lisbon couldn't help but note that, even when he was serious now, he didn't look so…weighed down.

"Lisbon, I really am sorry if it hurts you. He murdered my wife and child. I had to kill him."

Lisbon nodded. She felt tears in her eyes.

Grace noticed quickly and said, "Jane, we'll be back. Tonight, it's late. We all need sleep."

He nodded.

The women turned to go. Grace paused for a moment, before turning back to him.

Looking him dead in the eyes, she stated, her voice cold, "Congratulations, Jane. You got him."

He nodded. "Yes, I did."

When they were back in the main room of the station, Lisbon had calmed herself enough to softly say, "I'm going to go to the restroom."

The cop nodded. "Right that way, Miss."

Once she was gone, Grace pulled out her phone, and dialed a number that was getting very familiar.

"Hey, Madeline? It's about Jane. Yeah, can we come over? Yeah, we're going to need plenty of ice cream, and several boxes of tissues. Yeah, he found him. Oh, yes, Jane's still alive…Thanks. Bye."

A moment later, Lisbon returned. Her eyes were again full of tears. Grace took advantage of this by saying, "Maybe I should drive…"

Lisbon didn't argue.

She didn't even realize they weren't heading toward her house until they reached the gate.

"Yeah, let us in please."

Grace flashed her badge.

Lisbon frowned. "Wha-where are we?"

Grace smiled. "How long has it been since you've had 'girl time'?"

Lisbon shrugged.

The three women spent the evening together, just crying, eating ice cream, watching sappy movies, stuff they all needed very badly.

There was even some laughter, though mostly at the expense of Jane and O'Laughlin, but it was needed.

Early in the morning, Hightower spoke up, "Listen, I have a friend who owes me a favor. Her name is Erin Strauss...her team might be able to help. They study behavior. If it was really self-defense, they'll prove it."

Lisbon nodded. "That'd be good. And guys…" She paused. This wasn't something she was used to doing, but she knew they deserved it. "…Thanks."

**A/N: So…that was a long chapter. I promise, the Criminal Minds' team will be focused on more throughout the story, but for the first chapter, I needed to set the stage. Please, review and tell me what you think. **


	2. Red as a Beet

**A/N: Sorry I took so long...yeah...**

**By the way, since JJ's comming back in season seven, she'll be in this story.**

JJ's eyes widened. "She did _what?"_

Hotch winced. He had known she wouldn't take it well, but this was even worse than he had expected.

"Her friend asked her to put us on this case, and,"

"Hotch, there _is _no case! A man shot the man that murdered his wife and kid! And there are people who need us! People with _real _cases!"

Hotch sighed. "I know. But the politics involved in this are huge. If we don't take this case...all of our careers are over. Strauss made sure of that."

JJ was too worked up to really hear him. "Is this because they don't think I can do my job? Beacause, just because I haven't worked here for awhile, doesn't mean that I can't pick cases! I-"

Hotch placed a hand on her shoulder. "JJ..."

She closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them and saying, "I'm sorry, Hotch. I just-"

He nodded, silencing her. "I know. You want ot prove that you can still do your job, even though you've been working somewhere else for a while." He looked at her seriously, but there was a twinkle of ammusement in his eyes. "I have a feeling that yelling and screaming won't do that. Now, I know you can handle polotics. You've done it before; you can do it again."

She nodded, calming slightly.

He gave her a small smile. "Now, let's go tell the team, so we can get this over with."

She again nodded.

xxx

"She wants us to do _what?"_

JJ smiled slightly, relieved that someone shared her sentiments about the _case._

Morgan shook his head. "Hotch, you can't honestly expect us to-"

JJ cut him off. "Don't bother, I tried to talk him out of this, but, gotta love politics..."

Hotch nodded, secretly relieved that she seemed to have recovered.

JJ continued, "So, we're going to work this case as hard and fast as we can, so that we can tell Agent Hightower that we're sorry, but Mr. Jane really did murder the man."

Seaver frowned. "We _are_ going into this with a slightly open mind, right? I mean, just because he _would _have shot Red John whether or not he had a gun, doesn't mean he didn't have a gun."

JJ nodded. "Of course, we are going to look at all of the evidence, but we all know where this will probably go."

Everyone nodded. Hotch sighed. "Let's go."

xxx  
>(On the jet)<p>

"Ok, the women are all over at Agent HIghtower's house. Mr. Jane is, of course, in jail, and Agents Cho and Rigsby offered to meet at O'Malley's, a local bar. So, we're going to talk to each group seperately, compare stories, and see what really happened. We need to pay attention, because Agent Hightower suggested that Agent Lisbon might be in love with Mr Jane, and visa versa, and we need to see if that's true. Also, there was at one point a relationship between Agents Rigsby and Van Pelt. This is fairly clean-cut, but it's also fairly complicated because of the relationship issues and politics. Keep your eyes and ears open, and work fast," JJ finished.

Hotch took over. "Ok, Morgan, you and Reid will go to Agent Hightower's house, and-"

"Hotch..." Seaver hadn't even realized she had spoken, until all eyes turned to her.

He raised his eyebrows. "Yes?"

She took a deep breath and replied, "I was just thinking, wouldn't the women be more comfortable with JJ and I, at least at first? I mean, they're probably really confused right now, and,"

As the rest of the team just stared at her, any nerves she had disappeared.

JJ took in the looks on everyone's faces, then spoke. "She's right, Hotch. If we want to learn anything from the women, we'll want them to be comfortable. And the best way to do that is to send Seaver and I to them first."

Hotch nodded. "Ok, you're right...Ok, you and Seaver do that, Morgan and Rossi go meet Cho and Rigsby, and Reid and I'll go talk to Jane."

The team nodded. They all knew that this case would be different. They just had no idea how much so.

**A/N: SO, did you like it? Enough to review? The next chapter will have them meeting, some interaction, and _maybe _a little romance!  
>As for the pairing, I know they'll be Jisbon, Rigspelt, and MorganGarica. I'm not sure if I want to do Hotch/JJ and Reid/Seaver, or Hotch/Prentiss (You'll see,) and Reid/JJ, Or Reid/Prentiss and Hotch/JJ, or what. Suggestions?**


	3. Red Ladies in waiting Part 1

**A/N: And I'm back with…CHAPTER THREE! **

"Grace. Grace, wake up."

"Huh?" Her eyelashes fluttered open. Lisbon looked at her worriedly.

After taking a moment to get her bearings, she explained, "I guess that, after nearly ten hours of movies, I got…tired."

Lisbon smiled slightly. "Well, get up. Madeline's friends from the FBI are here."

She slowly sat up. _It's not often, _she mused, _that I wake up on my boss's __**boss's **__couch after a movie night._

"FBI? Really?"

Lisbon explained, "Apparently they didn't know Craig. It's ok."

Grace nodded. "Ok. Um…" She stared at Lisbon, confused. Her hair was not the least bit messy, and her cheeks weren't tearstained, while she was sure that she herself was a mess.

Lisbon chuckled slightly. She was amazed at how much better she felt after something as simple as a movie night. "The bathroom's that way, there's a brush and some makeup in there."

Grace smiled. "Thanks." And she walked away.

Hightower walked in at that moment, two blondes with her.

Lisbon blinked. She felt like she was seeing double.

The one on the left smiled slightly. "Agent Lisbon? I'm Agent Jennifer Jareau with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. You can call me JJ. This is Agent Seaver-"

"-Please, call me Ashley."

Lisbon nodded. "Ok…Um, Grace is getting fixed up, she'll be out in a few minutes."

JJ smiled gently. "Ok, can we go ahead and ask you a few questions?

"Of course," Lisbon replied, "Have a seat."

JJ and Ashley sat on the couch.

Hightower and Lisbon pulled up chairs directly across from them.

JJ opened a file. "Okay, um…It says here that, before you signed on with Mr. Jane, he was the consultant for another Agent's team. Randy…Marchase?"

Lisbon nodded.

"Well, there were over fifty lawsuits filed against Mr. Jane in a little over a month. Apparently, he wasn't big on following rules. Not really the kind of person I would want on my team. I'm curious, why did you sign on with him?"

Lisbon smiled slightly, a memory overwhelming her.

Seaver raised her eyebrows.

JJ spoke gently. "If you talk about the memories, it might help us."

Lisbon began speaking, her mind clearly elsewhere. "Well, one time, Jane got me suspended."

Hightower chuckled. "Oh, I remember where this went."

JJ leaned forward slightly. "Go on."

Lisbon continued, "Well, Jane wasn't too happy that I got suspended over something he did."

Seaver glanced at Hightower, confused. She shrugged. "I was new…I knew that he cared about her, at least on some levels, and I thought I could control him that way. Didn't really work out, but…"

Lisbon took over. "Anyway, I was at home, reading. I got this phone call from him, telling me to meet him at the business of some of the suspects. I tried to tell him no, but he kept begging, so I said 'ok.' So, I got there, and he was there, grinning like an idiot.

He told me we were going into their 'lair.' I tried to talk him out of it, but he was very persuasive. I did ask him why he hadn't called Cho about this. He had said I was closer.

Actually, it had been on the docks, and, as I remembered later, I live nowhere near the docks. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

So, we went inside and started talking to them. Long story short, they were the criminals."

JJ raised her eyebrows and commented, "An un-armed consultant and one suspended Agent? Something tells me this didn't go well."

Lisbon chuckled. She was amazed by how easily she felt at ease with these women.

"If by 'well' you mean, 'We ended up in a shipping crate in Mexico,' then-"

She paused, giving everyone a chance to stop laughing. "-It went really well."

"What went really well?"

All eyes turned to Grace, who stood in the doorway, confused.

Lisbon chuckled. "When Jane and I 'busted' the Drabers."

Grace's face lit up. "I still remember that phone call. 'It's the Federales…I think. Something about Jane and a…goat?'"

Lisbon and Hightower laughed.

Seaver and JJ chuckled, although they weren't really sure what was going on.

Lisbon returned to her story. "So, once we were in the crate, that's when it dawned on me that I lived nowhere near the water. I asked him about it. He made some comment about being bad with distances. I called him on it, though. I told him he was trying to help me. And, you know what he said?" He voice broke.

"He said-He said that he was always going to save me, whether I liked it or not."

Grace and Hightower each put a hand on one of her shoulders. After a few moments, she composed herself enough to say, "Anyway, I told him I didn't need to be saved, and that I knew he'd be trouble from the day I signed on with him. And, he asked me…why I'd signed on with him. When you asked me that, I just…"

JJ nodded. "So, why?"

Lisbon bit her lip for a moment. "Well, I knew that he'd also closed so many cases, I just thought he could help, and I had the Red John case, and I-" Her voice was starting to sound weird, something she wasn't too happy about. Simple interviews weren't supposed to shake her up, but they were.

"-I knew he could help with that one."

After a few moments, she continued, "I love a challenge. I thought-I thought he was another challenge I could beat. I thought I could tame him. Clearly, I was wrong…"

JJ nodded sympathetically. "For what it's worth, his complaints did go down after he started working with you. Not right away, but they did go down."

She didn't even ask about the rumor that she was in love with the man. She knew the answer.

Lisbon smiled gratefully. "Thank you. I just…wish I could've done more, that's all. And, you know what's funny? After that, we actually went on a date. I mean, not a real one...but it felt like it, at least to me..."

JJ sighed. "Now, tell me about the days leading up to Red John's death."

Lisbon closed her eyes. "I guess it all started a few months ago, when a cop-killer was burned alive in the CBI…."

**A/N: Ok, I think I'm going to be doing two to four chapters interviewing each group. (Some for the women, some for the 'guys,' and some for Jane.) I'm going to rotate the settings, as well. (Women, guys, Jane, Women, Guys…You get the picture.)**

**But, this story is just taking on a life of its' own, so more twists to come! **

**I would be thrilled if you reviewed.**

**Honestly, I can't begin to tell you how excited I am when I get a review.**

**Also, is anyone interested in beta-reading this story? I always check three or four times for mistakes, find none, post the chapter, and then find five or six when I re-read a day or two later. **


	4. Red Faced Goodbye

**EDIT: I am guessing that most of you who have read my stories have at least a hunch that I have retired from Fan Fiction. You are correct. I quit watching the Mentalist, and quitting Fan Fiction was the next-very difficult- step. I thought for a long time that watching TM was okay, despite the language, sex, and drug use, as long as I didn't write the same way, or let that be reflected in my life.**

**Actually, I take that back; I have known for a long time that I need to stop watching the Mentalist, but I found it impossible to quit. I thought I couldn't do it.**

**I was obsessed. **

**Thinking about the Mentalist 24/7.**

**Planning my life around being able to watch the Mentalist.**

**I skipped too many after-church dinners to watch The Mentalist.**

**I rarely wrote about anything non-Mentalist related.**

**And I was starting to bend my standerds to allow my favorite characters the life they wanted.**

**I needed to quit.**

**The actual story behind what finally pushed me to quit is kind of long, so I won't bore you with it.**

**But after what happened, the actual act of quitting wasn't so hard. **

**But doing this-admitting that I wouldn't be finishing any of my stories... That was the hard part. For nearly two months I put it off. **

**But I owe it to all of you-the ones who kept me sane during a nearly impossible time of my life- to tell you the truth. **

**I hate not finishing projects. But these will remain unfinished.**

**I'm sorry.**

**I will be leaving my stories up, because I remember it driving me crazy when someone quit and taking their stoies down. "Hey! I was going to read that!" I would gripe to the computer, (Not that anyone could hear me.) and I could never understand them doing that.**

**All of you mean so much to me, and I will never forget all of the things you've done for me.**

**Good bye.**

**I love you all, and God Bless. **


End file.
